‘Mārama’ Writer and Director on the Making of the Emotional Horror

Taratoa Stappard’s feature film debut, Mārama, starts playing in theaters in the U.S. on Friday, April 17. Having had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, it’s a Māori Gothic horror set in the mid-19th century, where a young Māori woman (Ariāna Gibson) travels to Yorkshire, England in search of information about her birth parents. However, when she uncovers a dark colonial history, she must take vengeance into her own hands.

In conversation with the writer and director, The Nerds of Color spoke to Stappard about how Jordan Peele’s Get Out served as inspiration, the experience of filming in Aotearoa New Zealand, the significance of having Watermelon Pictures as the film’s distributor, and what he’s been hearing from female audience members who’ve seen Mārama.